


Interdimensional Potions Master

by Emerys_Potter



Series: Teacher Harry [1]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Dimension Travel, F/F, F/M, Lord Gryffindor, Lord Ravenclaw, Lord Slytherin, M/M, Multi, Professor Harry Potter, Professor Neville Longbottom
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-02-10
Updated: 2018-02-15
Packaged: 2019-03-16 08:57:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 13,281
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13633002
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Emerys_Potter/pseuds/Emerys_Potter
Summary: After the war Harry and Neville are weighed down by the outcome of the war, as even though they won they'd lost everyone they cared about.  In their sadness, they decide they need to start new lives for themselves away from the dark memories of the past.In a dangerous move, the pair decide that another country wasn't good enough...another dimension however....Unfortunately they don't realise just how different their lives were about to get.





	1. Longbottom Family Secrets

 

The second wizarding war was finally over and they were free from Voldemort’s clutches forever, but their victory was hard earned with many losses.  The war had taken a large segment of the wizarding population and left its survivors rattled.  It took a year later for things to start feeling normal again with Diagon Alley repaired, the Ministry operating again and Hogwarts rebuilt.  While parts of the wizarding world looked normal, many people were still struggling with what happened.  One of these people was the wizarding world’s saviour Harry James Potter. 

After the war Harry holed himself up in Grimmauld Place and only left to attend the funerals for his friends and allies; he personally buried the Weasleys together, side by side, on their property feeling like his heart was being torn in two.  Regardless of his fans and the Prophet simultaneously hounding him relentlessly and singing his praises, Harry felt hallow inside.  Having lost so much from the war he wasn’t sure how to move forward; Sirius, Remus, Tonks, Ron, Hermione, Luna, George & Fred, Mr & Mrs Weasley, Charlie, Percy, Bill and Ginny had been killed fighting the Death eaters.

The only thing that was keeping him going was the pact he made with Hermione and Ron just before the battle, that no matter what happened, they would live their lives to the fullest after the war.  At the time it was all well and good but Harry found it hard to do when the people who made life worth living had been taken from him.  Although he had lost practically all those he considered family and friends, there was still one alive.  Neville Longbottom.

Like Harry, Neville stayed holed up in Longbottom Manor only leaving to visit Harry or visit his grandmother’s grave.  Even though Neville wasn’t as social or happy as he used to be, Harry still found him to be a comforting presence; he regularly came over for chats and often could just pull Harry away from his sad thoughts with a smile.

One day as the anniversary for the end of the war crept closer, Harry decided to surprise his friend for once by arriving over at Neville’s with a surprise dinner.  It was one of the skills he had picked up from the Dursleys’ that he didn’t immediately hate.  Cooking relaxed him especially when he didn’t have to cook for fat slobs and a giraffe woman.

Harry grinned at the thought of seeing a shocked Neville smiling up at him; Neville was normally the visitor rather than the host and considering he was a horrible cook, Harry knew that he would be appreciative of good food.  As the clock chimed five o’clock in the afternoon Harry awkwardly grabbed some floo powder from his mantle, whilst his arms were weighed down by large packages from the muggle grocer down the street, and threw the green powder it into the fireplace.

“Longbottom Manor!”

Stumbling slighting after whirring past numerous fireplaces, Harry straightened up about to call out his arrival when his eyes caught the state of Neville’s lounge room and his greeting dried up.  On the couple of occasions Harry had been at Neville’s place, he’d been amazed at how clean and organized his friend had kept everything; he’d never been particularly fussy about that sort of thing at Hogwarts.  Now though there were balls of discarded parchment littering the floor like massive pieces of hail, books haphazardly strewn around on nearly every surface and enough half eaten muggle takeaway containers to open a Chinese restaurant. 

A sense of unease and guilt crept up Harry’s spine has he took in the whirlpool of dysfunction.  He’d always thought that Neville was dealing with the aftermath of the war well considering he had lost just as much as he did; Neville’s girlfriend Hannah, his grandmother and practically the whole DA that had become more of a group of friends than a defence group over the years and during the war.  Although looking at how Neville’s been living, Harry was starting to recalculate his opinion.

Just as he was contemplating putting down his groceries and hunting down his wayward friend, Neville casually walked around the corner with his nose in a large dusty tome.  As he casually took a seat, completely unaware of his presence, Harry altered from looking about the room to worrying about his friend.

When Neville had come to visit he had always looked relatively happy with a smile, straight back and an occasional laugh thrown in.  Now however Harry could make out his sickly complexion, the bags under his once bright eyes and worry lines that not only cradled his face but added years onto him.  With Neville completely absorbed in whatever he was reading, Harry uneasily shifted his weight and cleared his throat.

In a second Neville transformed from distracted nerd to war hardened fighter as he flew from his chair with a menacing scowl etched across his visage and his wand pointed directly at Harry’s heart.  Within a couple of seconds, Neville must have recognised the intruder as his intimidating stare weakened and he lowered his wand.

“Harry?”  Neville rasped out, looking guiltily around the room.  “What are you doing here?”

“Well after you came over last week, I wanted to return the favour and thought I’d surprise you by cooking you dinner.”  Harry explained gesturing to the bags in his arms.

“Oh...”  Neville started weakly running his hands over his face.  “…thanks…I was just…umm…”

Seeing that Neville was so awkward he was reverting back to his first year stuttering, Harry decided to take pity on his friend before he grilled him for information.  “That doesn’t matter right now Nev.  I want you to go upstairs, have a shower and when you come back down I’ll have dinner ready.”

At his suggestion Neville’s tense shoulders relaxed slightly and after throwing him a shaky smile, he got up and followed Harry’s advice.

Knowing that he would have some time to kill as pasta was quick to cook and Neville would take a while getting himself presentable, Harry went into the kitchen to dump his burden before heading back out into Neville’s lounge room.  He wasn’t sure what Neville had been studying but the place looked worse than the time Hermione sat up all night studying for their O.W.Ls.  Withdrawing his wand, Harry banished all the takeaway boxes and the balled up pieces of parchment, before using the scouring charm to clean some of the surfaces and an air freshening charm to stop the room smelling like a Quidditch changing room.

Not wanting to pick up and move anything Neville probably thought was important, Harry left the room so he could start dinner feeling better now the room was a lot more acceptable now.

As he started boiling the dried pasta and hunting around for Neville’s cutting board and knives so that he could dice a few onions, Harry let his mind digest what he had seen.  He knew now that Neville was only acting calm and happy when he visited, probably because he knew that was what Harry needed.  He was embarrassed to admit, even to himself, that he hadn’t been a great friend in return.

He’d been so depressed and angry that he sometimes he hadn’t bothered to even ask how Neville was.  With the cutting board prepared and a sharp knife in hand, Harry swore he would make it up to Neville and start being a proper friend.  Neville deserved that at the very least.

Once dinner was ready, Harry flicked his wand and sent two plates and two sets of cutlery flying from the cupboards.  Realising that Neville should’ve been down by now, Harry turned off the heat from the pasta and sauce and cast preservation spells over the food before heading upstairs.

As he traversed Longbottom Manor and headed up to Neville’s room, Harry could tell that it wasn’t just the lounge room that was in a state of disarray but nearly every room in the house.  The once impressive Longbottom library looked like it had been hit by a tornado, the parlour appeared to have gained suspicious scorch marks and even the hallways had gouges taken out of the previously brilliant white stonework; Harry was glad that at least the kitchen was left undisturbed so that he could at least feed Neville something other than stale take away.

Upon reaching Neville’s bedroom on the third floor, he could hear sniffling on the other side of the door.

“Neville?”  Harry called out rapping gently on his friends closed bedroom door.  Immediately the sniffling stopped and silence reined in its place.  Wanting to find out what was wrong, Harry tried again.

“Neville?  It’s just me, please let me in.”

When he failed to receive a response Harry cautiously reached out and turned the knob, pushing the door open.  Laying on red king sized bed with wood panelling was Neville staring directly up at his ceiling without even acknowledging his entrance.  As Harry walked closer to the bed stepping over pizza boxes and dirty clothes, he could make out dried tear marks running down Neville’s face.

Wanting to be there for Neville, Harry walked over and laid down next to him so that they were shoulder to shoulder; brothers in arms from war and now in recovery.  Another few minutes of silence later, Harry decided to break the silence. 

“Wanna talk about it?”

Neville tensed before replying weakly.  “I just…my…actually not really.” 

Harry just gave a sigh not knowing what to do in situations like this.  He always considered himself to be a good person especially to his friends, but deep emotional support was often better coming from Hermione or Neville.   

“I’m sorry, Neville.” 

Harry knew that he had captured his friend’s attention with that, as Neville sat up on his elbows and stared down at him with wide red eyes.  Not wanting to be interrupted before making his point and hopefully helping Neville open up at the same time, Harry forged ahead.

“You’ve been a great friend to me over this past year…in fact you’ve been a great friend to me since our first year.  You came and helped lift my spirits and even that one time I couldn’t sleep for a few days you helped me through the nightmares.  Do you remember what you told me when I finally explained why I looked so tired a few months back?”

“That we are f-family and family don’t keep secrets.”  Neville admitted hesitantly as tears welled up in his eyes.

Harry just nodded along keeping his eyes forward and letting Neville have a moment.  Knowing Neville, he suspected that one of the reasons he kept his difficulties secret was because he didn’t like sharing his emotions.  Neville was a great listener and gave good advice but he always had trouble opening up and letting someone else help him.

“You’re right, Harry.”  Neville said with more timbre in his voice.  “I’m sorry I’ve kept all this secret but I just didn’t wanna worry you.”

This time Harry turned to his brave friend and offered him an encouraging smile.  “It’s alright, Nev, I don’t need you to apologise.  Why don’t you have a shower to freshen up and come down for dinner.  We can talk about why you’ve converted your lounge room into a mini library afterwards.” 

‘ _Probably because of the natural disaster the library had become.’_  A smart ass voice piped up from the back of Harry’s mind, suspiciously sounding a lot like the Weasley twins.

Swinging his legs off the bed and grinning cheekily over his shoulder to his friend, Harry headed out of the bedroom only to stick his head back in with a warning.

“If you’re not down in ten minutes, I’m going to prank first and ask questions later.”

With that said Harry closed the door feeling heartened to hear a weak chuckle coming from within.

 

**

 

After obviously having a shower and putting on some clean clothes, Neville appeared in the dining room looking a lot better than he had six minutes ago.  He wore a loose pair of jeans, a red shirt with a fresh black robe over the top and he even had bothered to comb his slightly damp hair.  While his look was definitely an improvement, it was his face with its calm smile that made Harry feel better for his friend.

Rather than make an unnecessary comment Harry pointed to the steaming bowl of pasta next to him.  “Hope you’re hungry.”

Together they sat in companionable silence only making brief conversation as they consumed Harry’s cooking.  Harry didn’t think it was anything overly special, but hearing Neville’s praises about how mouth-watering it was, unfortunately made him blush slightly.  Once everything was finished and Harry had charmed the dishes to clean themselves, Harry and Neville retired to the lounge room.

“Alright, Neville, what’s going on around here?”  Harry inquired looking around at the books and parchment with a curious eye.

Neville sighed as he slumped into the nearest armchair, that just happened to be one of the few areas not covered with a book or useful looking parchment, before looking down at his hands determined not to make eye contact.  “Did you know that one of my ancestors had been one of the first unspeakables?”

Harry was a little thrown by that question.  He had been expecting Neville to start explaining about how he had a break down or some kind of fit, the question about distant relatives was certainly a shock.  “Err…no…can’t say I did, Nev…”

He just nodded his understanding whilst staring with renewed focus on his shoes.  “All of his notes from the work they were doing had been kept protected in my family’s library for nearly a century.  One day…about three months ago…I started digging around and came across his diaries and notes.  He’d been working on stabilizing portals.”

Harry groaned not sure if he liked where this conversation was going.  They had learnt from their Charms and Defence Against the Dark Arts studies that portals were incredibly dangerous and should only be worked by expert researchers.  However, judging from the numerous tomes and pieces of parchment that Neville has obviously been working on, it was a lesson that never really stuck with Neville.

“Soo…you decided to take up your ancestor’s work?  You wanna become an unspeakable at the Ministry?”  Harry asked trying to figure out Neville’s end game.

Biting his lip, Neville shook his head dejectedly at him.  “He wasn’t working on portals as solely means of basic transport or research…he was developing a method to open an interdimensional portal.”

Harry paled as he took in Neville’s words and nervous demeanour.  “You were trying to find a way to visit a different dimension?” 

In a flash of nervous energy, Neville jumped up and started pacing back and forth as Harry sank further into his seat. 

“Being here…around the wizarding world after _everything_ we’ve endured is just too much.  Every place I go, everything I see is just more reminders of the war.  Can’t you see, Harry, that I can never truly move on if I am tormented by our past.”

Harry nodded weakly unable to do anything else from shock as Neville continued to blurt out his excuses.  He wasn’t sure what was the most concerning, the fact that Neville was in so much pain that he was willing to try something incredibly dangerous in an attempt to get away or the fact he didn’t mind leaving Harry completely alone.  As selfish as it was, Harry knew that the only thing that kept him going this past year was Neville.  With his brash friend winding down from his explanation, Harry swallowed his own problems and reminded himself that this was about Neville.

“Neville, you know I understand what you’re going through, but don’t you think experimental portals to other dimensions might be a bit dangerous and risky?  We both promised our friends to start living and this seems to point in the other direction.”

Rather than show some sense of his point of view, Neville just waved away his point with a flick of his wrist as he continued his pacing at a slower pace.  “No, I’ve been studying his writing for months and found his process for a solid-ish portal.  He practically gives step-by-step understanding of the phases required.”

“Solid-ish?”

Neville paused his pacing to look over at Harry’s amused yet concerned expression.  Slowly the duo dissolved into giggles and then chuckles.  Even though they both knew it wasn’t all that funny, it was odd enough in a conversation about dangerous magic that it did the trick and sliced through the tension.

As Harry hadn’t actually called him crazy yet, Neville launched into a detailed rant about the interdimensional portal and ran about the room collected books and notes to shove under Harry’s nose as proof.  After what felt like hours of complicated symbols and diagrams dancing before his eyes, Neville wound down with an excited gleam in his eyes.

“What do you think?”

Not wanting to destroy Neville’s sudden positive attitude, Harry scratched the back of his neck.  “Well…it looks fine from my understandings but this appears to only be theory at the moment.  I mean from your ancestor’s notes it reads like he might have done practical experiments but there’s no evidence any of this is true.”

“D-Does that mean you aren’t against the idea of both of us getting away from the pain here?”

It hadn’t taken long for Harry to realise why this appealed so much to Neville, because it sounded rather nice to him as well.  Other than each other they didn’t have any friends or family left, the few survivors of the war hound them as heroes and there were probably a few Death eaters still lurking out there somewhere; starting a new life without all of that in his face, sounded like heaven. 

“I suppose not and it certainly has its benefits…” Harry admitted with a chuckle.  “…but this is just theory, Nev, and not something that can actually help us.”

Slowly a wide smirk crept over Neville’s face.  “I’ve actually already created two portals.  One was in the library but it kinda got out of control…and the other one I did right here.  It works Harry.  It actually works.”

Harry gaped at Neville.  “Y-you created a magical portal to another dimension?”

“I know I’m not the smartest around but Hermione was great helping me study and all the private tutoring we got from the Order really helped.”  Neville defended with a blush completely misinterpreting Harry’s question as a doubt upon his skill.  Wanting to reassure his friend Harry reiterated what he meant. 

Once he finished, Neville gave him a wide smile.  “Oh yeah.  The instructions left by my ancestor were relatively easy to follow.  So does that mean you’ll come with me, Harry?”

As the idea of starting a new life was very tempting, Harry fixed Neville with a scrupulous eye.  “Are you sure you’ve tested it and it’s completely safe?”

“Of course.  It’ll be great!”

Throwing caution into the wind Harry consented, only to have a beaming Neville rush him and pull him into a brief manly hug.

“You’ll see it’ll be great Harry.”

With that confirmed Harry and Neville sat down and discussed their plan for a peaceful future.  They decided to gather their personal belongings and travel through that night.  Harry didn’t think that there was any reason to rush into it but Neville had been adamant that he wanted to leave tonight.  Unfortunately, Neville’s plan meant that Harry only had a few hours left before he would leave his world for another.

 

**

On an incredible time limit, Harry had quickly launched into action.  He first went to Gringotts and removed everything from his personal vault and the Potter Ancestral Family Vaults, before dashing home and packing everything important to him; this mostly consisted of the Marauders Map, the invisibility cloak, his massive family album and his broomstick. 

Once he was certain that he had everything important to him safely shrunk in his pocket, he returned to Longbottom Manor.    

“Neville?”  Harry called out as he stepped out of the fireplace, only to get a muffled reply in return.

Supposing that he was further inside the manor, Harry dusted himself off from having just used the Floo network and went to find his determined friend.

 

It hadn’t taken him long to find an excited Neville standing next to a large, swirling portal.  Having only read about portals in books for magical theory, Harry had never seen one before and he had to admit that it was beautiful; the inside of the portal was a bright white with a ring of bright blue magic surrounding it.

“Woah…”  Harry whispered staring at Neville’s achievement with wide eyes.  The closer he got to the portal he more mesmerized he became.  The blue magic was vibrating as though it was alive and you could actually see the magical particles move and swell inside the portal.

Neville chuckled.  “Yeah, I did the same thing when I first saw it.  So…are you ready?”

Tearing his eyes away from the portal Harry looked at Neville hesitantly.  “Can you go through the plan again for me?”

While a true Gryffindor might not care about the particulars, moving to another dimension should never be taken lightly, especially when they probably wouldn’t be able to return. 

Thankfully Neville didn’t seem to mind rehashing the plan he gave before Harry ran off to Gringotts.  “Basically we build a peaceful life for ourselves.  We can stay at the Leaky Cauldron until we find a place to live.  Then once we are ready we go to the Department of Magical Education at the Ministry of Magic and take our N.E.W.Ts.”

“You think we’ll be ready for N.E.W.Ts?  We didn’t even get to properly do our seventh year, how are we going to do N.E.W.Ts?”

Neville snorted.  “You picked up a lot during the war Harry, besides I haven’t been the only one to start studying at home rather than go out and face the hordes.”

As much as he wanted to deny Neville’s claim, he knew in his heart that he couldn’t.  In a duel effort of fighting boredom and avoiding the magical community, Harry found solace in books like Hermione used to do; with certain subjects giving him a sense of enjoyment he hadn’t experienced in a long time.  Learning about his magic away from the pressures of war, reminded him how it first felt as a first year.  

“Fine.”  He reluctantly admitted but there was another issue he wanted to address that seemed rather pressing.  “If this is another dimension then we could be looking at a similar world.  What are we going to do about the other Harry Potter and Neville Longbottom?”

“Well I was planning on just giving a fake name, as the Ministry won’t follow it up and Gringotts won’t care…but you make a point.  Maybe we should change ourselves?”  Neville suggested with a shrug.

Harry didn’t like the idea of changing himself; with a couple of exceptions, his looks were the only thing he had of his parents.  When he shared his concerns Neville just patted his shoulder in sympathy.

“I know, Harry, but you won’t have to change much.  I mean…it’s not uncommon for people to share similar features to others; most of our year had either brown or black hair, and eyes usually only come in blue, green and brown.”

No matter how much he didn’t like the idea of being transfigured permanently, at least for the foreseeable future, Neville made a few good points.  In the end he agreed that he would let Neville transfigure a few features and would use a charm himself to control his wayward hairstyle.  Neville on the other hand decided on getting Harry to transfigure some more noticeable things.

Neville’s transformation went over well, with Harry being able to give him a more graceful nose, noticeable cheekbones and grey eyes.  Unfortunately, despite Neville working on highly experimental portals, he still was pants at transfiguration.  He had managed to successfully give Harry a sharp jawline but when he tried changing his eye color, something went wrong.

Rather than the silver eyes that they agreed on, like Sirius’ had been, Neville only managed to make them a blue-green.  While before his eyes had been a deep emerald, Neville had somehow managed to flip that making them practically glow; they were so bright, you could barely notice the pupil at the centre of it.  After that fiasco Harry refused to let Neville try again but managed to reverse some of the effects, so that his eyes were just bright instead of being equal to the lumos charm.

To finish the illusion off as best they could, Harry used a charm he recently learnt himself that was strong enough to soothe the Potter hair into submission.

“Are you packed?”  Harry snapped clearly annoyed at Neville’s idea of good transfiguration.

“Yeah.”  Neville replied sheepishly rubbing the back of his neck.  “Let’s go.”

Without further ado, the two troubled war heroes stepped into the magical portal and disappeared in a bright flash of light.


	2. New World, Surprising Turns

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Neville's portal worked and spat the two dimension travellers out into a new world and a fresh start.  
> After spending some time at the Leaky Cauldron and working out a plan of attack, the two start on building their new identities which meant a trip to Gringotts Wizarding Bank.

Chapter 2

As the light faded, Harry found himself standing back in the Longbottom Manor exactly where he had been standing before, although something certainly felt different to him. 

“What happened?  Didn’t it w…”  Harry started to ask as a suddenly panicked Neville grabbed his arm and forcefully apparated them away with a deafening crack.

Magical transportation had never been a favourite of his, but being forced into it without warning made it bad.  They appeared with the trademark crack and flash on the cobbled street outside of the Leaky Cauldron.  Immediately Harry bent forwards and started hurling onto the street.

“Err…sorry, Harry, but we couldn’t stay there.”  Neville said apologetically, going to great lengths not to look at Harry throwing up in public.

When he had finished, Harry whipped around looking paler than Nearly Headless Nick.  “What…the…hell?”

“Well…the portal did work but we ended up in this world’s Longbottom Manor, something that I’m sure would be confusing to its residents.”

Even though he had just emptied the contents of his stomach, Harry was still not feeling great, and gently placed his hand on his stomach as Neville continued explaining.  It turned out that when they arrived Neville quickly noticed that the room was a lot tidier than he left it, someone had changed the curtains and had slightly remodelled.  At first Harry felt a little embarrassed not seeing the differences for himself but put it down to Neville having the advantage as it was his home. 

“So you are positive this is the new dimension and we aren’t about to be swarmed by idiots?” 

Neville chuckled.  “Yep.  No fans or crazy reporters here searching for us.  Now come let’s go in and get a place for the night.”

Feeling a chill on the back of his neck from the cold night air, Harry agreed and led the way into the Leaky Cauldron. 

Before the second war the Leaky Cauldron had been a fairly popular establishment, but the amount of people inside this particular version was ridiculous.  From the moment they opened the door they were met with a sea of people all crowded around tables drinking merrily, laughing and talking.

Harry and Neville turned to each other with matching smirks.  It was oddly pleasing to see so much happiness and sound coming from the magical community, as after the second war a lot of places were practically deserted. 

“Is it just me or are there a few wild Fwoopers trapped in here?”  Neville shouted over the din as they made their way inside.

Harry just laughed freely, feeling oddly giddy.  Fwoopers were oddly colored birds that could drive someone insane from listening to their high-pitched squawks.  He could acknowledge the sound was bad but he still felt rather sane.

“Come on.”  Harry mouthed and pointed over to the bar.  

With a nod to show he understood the duo headed over the bar in the hopes of finding Tom the barkeeper.  From their world Tom was a friendly old man who put everything into the Leaky Cauldron and it showed in his appearance; from his exhausted but kind demeanour to the bags that hung around his pale blue eyes.  Seeing this world’s version was like looking at another person. 

This bartender had happy cerulean eyes and smile lines around his mouth to replace the stress induced ones Tom had around his eyes.  He also wore robes of rich black cloth with a matching vest; both of which were a far cry from the shabby old robes Tom wore.

“What’ll it be gents?”  A very happy Tom asked glancing between Harry and Neville.

“Tom?”  Neville asked dubiously as he looked the bartender up and down, clearly having the same issue Harry was.

Rather than be perplexed by Neville’s question and shocked tone, Tom just gave a cheeky smile.  “The one and only.  So what shall it be?  I’ve just got in a great new brew from Flints.”

With the only Flint he knew being an ex-Death eater, Harry politely declined.  “No thanks.  We were just wondering if you have any spare rooms going?”

“Indeed I do.”  Tom responded still brandishing his warm smile.  “I’ve got a few still spare, with many of the others rented out to this lot.”

While it was possible that his happy act was completely bogus, he could understand why this Tom would be happier; he had well over double the number of patrons Harry had ever seen in the pub and could clearly afford to treat himself a bit.

“That’ll be great.  We’ll take a room for tonight and maybe the next.”  Neville said fishing out some galleons from his pocket and handing them over to Tom. 

After taking their money, Tom handed over a thick golden key.  “Your room will be number ten on the second floor.  If you have any issues please let me know.”

With a line of drinkers starting to form behind them, probably eager for their next round, Harry took the key and led the way upstairs to their rooms.  When they got to their room the pair picked a bed and settled in for the night. 

 

**

 

The next morning Harry and Neville made their way downstairs, freshly showered and ready to start their new lives.  They sat down at a spare table in the pub to start planning their next move over a hot breakfast. 

“We’ll have to start by visiting Gringotts and opening an account with them.”

Harry hummed in agreement as they finished giving their order of two English Breakfasts to the thirty year old waitress, who afterwards skipped away to the kitchen merrily; if Harry didn’t know any better he’d think that Tom and his staff used cheering charms on themselves to improve hospitality.

“Naturally.”  Harry sassed with a playful smile.  “We can’t walk around with all our valuables and money in a shrunken chest for the rest of our lives.”

Even though it was only the first day of their new lives, he could already feel some invisible weight lift from his chest; although he wasn’t the only one clearly benefitting from a change of scenery.  Only yesterday Neville looked exhausted and defeated but now he looked practically brand new, but Harry knew in his heart that some of the scars would take a lot longer to heal.

“Shut up.” 

Despite Neville’s mock glare, Harry just grinned wider at his friend.  “After we do that, what do you reckon we should do?  I was thinking that we should hit the nearest book store and get up to speed about the history of this world.”

“Yeah I think you’re right, Harry, we need to blend in and survive.  We don’t know who to trust and have no contacts here other than each other.”  Neville agreed before continuing.  “Although I think I’ll go and stop in at the Ministry of Magic.”

Not expecting that to fly out of his friend’s mouth, Harry frowned in confusion.  “Why would you wanna go there?” 

“To get information about our N.E.W.T examinations remember?”  Neville asked but sighed when Harry just gave a weak shrug.  He could vaguely remember Neville talking about it before they left, but in his defence his mind felt liquefied after listening to his friend’s explanation of magical dimensions and magical distortion fields.  

“We need to take our N.E.W.Ts if we want a good job.  I mean we have no history here and even if we beg, the best kind of job we could get now would be a cleaner somewhere.”

As much as he didn’t particularly like the idea of sitting his N.E.W.Ts, Harry relented at Neville’s reasoning.  If they were going to start over they’d need to do it properly.

“Alright, fine.  Why don’t we split up?  You head to the Ministry and I’ll stay back in our rooms researching.”  Harry suggested to Neville’s amused smirk.

“What?”  Harry groaned defensively as the waitress returned with a psychotic grin and placed their breakfast down in front of them.  Sometimes Harry really wished that Neville hadn’t spent so much time with the Weasley twins during the war; it helped bring him out of his shell but unfortunately he learnt to tease as well as any Weasley.

“Thanks.”  Neville grinned to the waitress before turning back to Harry as she left them to eat.  “You hate research, Harry.  There is a reason why Hermione did all the research for your adventures.”

“Hermione did all the research because she liked it.”  Harry corrected as his mind flashed back to his brainy and loyal friend.  “Besides it’s not like I hate it, I just prefer action to reading.”

Neville snorted as he piled his fork with scrambled egg and bacon.  The rest of breakfast resulted in playful banter between the two until their plates were completely void of food.

“We should probably get going.”  Neville declared standing up.  With that Neville and Harry left for Gringotts Wizarding Bank.

From the moment they stepped out from the small alcove between the Leaky Cauldron and the shopping district, both wizards froze at the sight before them.  Even though it was rather early, Diagon Alley was brimming with life; shoppers were pushing through the crowds happily with their arms full of bags and packages and every shop in sight was open and filled with customers. 

It wasn’t until an elderly couple politely asked them to move from the entrance way, that Harry and Neville snapped themselves out of their shock. 

“It’s…amazing.”  Neville said looking around in awe as though he were eleven again; not that Harry could blame him.

The happiness and life that hung firmly throughout the alley was contagious and a huge contrast to what their Diagon Alley had become.  Even with the war being over people preferred staying home with their family rather than spend time shopping, or stopping in for ice cream or even catching up with friends in the Leaky Cauldron; the district was practically a vacant ghost town with a layer of sadness that no amount of cleaning could ever wipe away.

With so many people going about their business in Diagon Alley, it took Harry and Neville longer than they were used to before they could see the impressive white stone building that was Gringotts Bank.  Without delay the two hustled inside, if only to refrain from being pulled further down the street by the swarm of customers that you essentially had to fight your way through.

Just like their world, Gringotts was elegant with their massive suspended chandeliers and beautiful marbled floors.  Unfortunately, unlike their world the bank was proportionally busy to Diagon Alley with long lines stemming from haggard looking goblin tellers.  After joining the shortest looking line on the far right, Harry entertained himself by people watching; the lines were filled with a variety of people from a tired couple with a gaggle of children around their feet to a man larger than Hagrid with a bulging bag in his grips that Harry swore was moving around. 

After waiting for over twenty minutes, Harry and Neville had finally reached the front of their queue and after catching sight of the teller Harry wasn’t so glad that they did.  The goblin was wearing thick black leather that featured the Gringotts emblem in the right hand corner, a deadly looking simitar hung from his waist and furious eyes.

“Yes?”  The goblin teller spat, as he glared down at the two wizards like they were nothing more than the scum growing under a cauldron.

“We are here to setup accounts for ourselves.”  Neville replied confidently, as though he wasn’t aware of the goblins’ obvious attitude problem.

The goblin rolled his beady brown eyes as he placed two pieces of parchment on the desk in front of him.  “Place your dominant hand on the parchment for your magical core identification.”

Harry rose an eyebrow.  While he had never opened a new account at Gringotts before, he’d heard it was a fairly straight forward procedure and he’d never heard of magical core identification.  Thankfully Neville came to the rescue.

“What’s that?”  Neville inquired looking at the two blank parchments as though they would randomly explode or suddenly grow a mouth and try to bite them; while to many this would seem rather paranoid behaviour, even in the wizarding world, but as they both had lived with the Weasley twins for a time Harry felt such concerns were completely valid.

“I’ve already told you.”  The goblin sneered showing his shark-like teeth.  “They are for your magical core identification.  They inform us of your real identity and heritage.  We use them because there is no magical way of tricking the charms, so you couldn’t pose as another customer no matter what you tried.”

Regardless of how weird it seemed to have his core scanned by a piece of parchment, the logic behind it was strong and definitely an advantage.  Besides it wasn’t like they had much of a choice.  With some encouragement from Harry, both wizards placed their right hands on the parchment that quickly glowed before fading away. 

Before they could get a look at their scans, the teller removed them from the bench and started perusing them. 

“I see, well that is all sorted then.  Very well, Heirs Ravenclaw and Gryffindor.  If you’ll follow me.”

Harry and Neville were then quickly ushered away from the gossiping public to a small yet ornate office on the second floor of the bank.  The office belonged to a frail and grumpy goblin who appeared to have more blemishes covering his saggy skin than manners; their first introductions involved the teller quickly conversing in Gobbledegook before running out and leaving them with the being known as Lord Mudmar.

“I’m sorry, Lord Mudmar, but we are a little confused.”  Neville started scratching the back of his head and glancing briefly at Harry.  “Neither of us are Heir of Ravenclaw or Gryffindor.”

The goblin rolled his beady black eyes in reply.  “So you are informing me that you are not Heir Neville Longbottom of the Noble and Ancient House of Gryffindor and the Noble and Ancient House of Longbottom and your friend isn’t Heir Harry James Potter of the Noble and Ancient House of Ravenclaw and the Ancient and Noble House of Potter?  Meaning that our methods of core identification, which have been working perfectly for us for centuries, are suddenly not working?”

“N-no!”  Neville said suddenly with wide eyes.  “I am Neville it’s just that…”

“What he means to stay Lord Mudmar…”  Harry interrupted sensing Neville’s flustering.  “…is that he is Neville Longbottom, and I am Harry Potter, we were only not aware we had connections to the Ravenclaw and Gryffindor lines.”

“Well…you are.” 

Harry barely supressed a smirk at the plain response from the goblin, but he couldn’t help but be shocked by this turn of events just as Neville clearly was.  He wasn’t sure about Neville but Harry had taken a heritage test at Gringotts back in their own world and he hadn’t come up as Rowena Ravenclaw’s heir then.  What has suddenly changed now?

Unfortunately for Harry’s curiosity Mudmar wasn’t a goblin that held any kind of patience.  The elderly goblin had got them to accept the Lordship of the lines they didn’t even know they were related to, and had placed most of their treasure safely in their vaults for them.  Although there was still one thing that they needed help with.

“Lord Mudmar, is it possible to change our names?”  Harry asked.

The goblin nodded.  “Yes of course.  You can select your new name and we will inform the Ministry to what information is relevant thereby ensuring your privacy.”

Harry grinned at the moody goblin before glancing over at Neville.  “Wanna choose each other’s names?”

“I don’t think that’s a good idea, Harry.”  Neville said frowning as though imagining the name that Harry could give him.

While Harry had never really done much pranking, he was the son of a marauder so he supposed it was a smart thing for Neville to be concerned. “Come on where’s your Gryffindor bravery, _Lord Gryffindor._   You sound like you’ve eaten some of the twins canary creams and turned into a real chicken.”

Neville glared clearly falling for Harry’s bait, much to the new Lord Ravenclaw’s delight.  “Fine but we can’t make it anything too bad as we’ve gotta live with it forever.  Why don’t we use our family trees as inspiration.”

Even though he thought it would be more fun without Neville’s guidelines, he knew it could get out of hand and didn’t wanna have to keep coming back to change his name; it would only drag attention that they don’t want, as he was certain lords didn’t continually change their names for fun.  After agreeing to Neville’s conditions, and borrowing their hereditary test from a displeased Mudmar, Harry and Neville dived into each other’s family history.

Harry couldn’t help but chuckle at some of the ludicrous names on Neville’s family tree.  Harfang sounded like a name suited for a werewolf and using Neville’s great-uncle Algie was inspiration was too mean; although it seemed to fit with the Longbottom’s fascination with toads somehow.  From the corner of his eye Harry could see a small cheeky smile on Neville’s face so he was certain that his family wasn’t much better.

In the end Harry had renamed the new Lord Gryffindor as Danforth Neville Gryffindor, who’d named him Ralston Harry Ravenclaw.  They’d chosen to keep their original names as a way of not forgetting everything they’ve been through.  After all, arriving in a new world wasn’t meant to obliterate their past but forge their future.  After sorting out their new names and vaults, Lord Mudmar promised to review their properties and owl them tomorrow with their complete listing.

With their new identities forged and protected, the two followed their original plan and went their separate ways; Harry to the bookshop to find out more about this world’s history and Neville to plan their N.E.W.Ts.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Let me know what you think of it below.


	3. NEWT Exams & Trouble

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Neville drags Harry down to complete his NEWT examinations, while there they meet an odd examiner that seems a little to eager for their taste. Who does this man work for and why is he so interested in our dimensional travellers.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please let me know what you think by commenting down below and leaveing a kudos!

//Harry Potter\\\

 

Harry walked silently beside his friend as they descended further into the Ministry of Magic.  Originally the plan had been that Harry would go and find some history books whilst Neville looked into NEWT examinations at the Ministry.  However that plan didn’t last long.  By the time Harry got back with bags crammed full of books, Neville had run in saying that they were taking new students all the time.  When Harry tried to argue that meant that they could do it anytime, Neville had beaten him to it and grabbed his arm and apparated him away. 

Annoying at the time but Harry could at least understand.  This was a big deal but he would’ve preferred doing such an important exam on more rest.  However, he didn’t say anything but opted to follow his unreasonably excited friend; it was almost like Hermione had briefly possessed him.

Finally after taking three staircases and two elevator trips, the pair had arrived at the Department of Magical Education.  Sitting at a large circular desk with two doors on either side of her work station sat a young witch with frizzy blonde hair and a misshapen nose.

“Can I help you?”  She drawled lazily looking between them.

Supressing the snort he desperately wanted expel, Harry let Neville do all the talking. 

“Yes please.  Both myself, and my cousin here wish to take the NEWT examinations.”

With a dismissive glance between the two war heroes the woman huffed obviously not impressed.  Although without needing to be encouraged to get on with it, she over two quills and identical forms. 

“You need to complete the applications and sign up for the examinations you wish to take.  I will return once you have filled in the forms.” 

Without giving them a chance to ask questions, the woman stood up and walked through the first door behind her desk.  Exchanging a shrug with Neville, Harry turned to the parchment ready to fill in his form.  Most of it was just simple questions like his name and where he studied but when he got to the end he hesitated. 

“What are you going to pick, Nev?”  Harry asked.  From what he could remember Neville did okay in NEWTs and with the extra study he picked up from Moody and Minerva leading up to the final battle, he should be able to take most exams.

Neville just smirked keeping his eyes on his application form as his quill continued moving across the dry surface.  “NEWT Herbology, NEWT Defence, NEWT Charms, NEWT History, NEWT Transfiguration, NEWT Potions and NEWT Magical Creatures.”

Harry balked hearing list of subjects Neville wanted to attempt.  As his friend and classmate Harry knew that Neville wasn’t a massively academic guy, and most NEWT students only attempted five maximum.  Sure he got extra tutoring but seven seemed excessive.  

“Why are you picking Transfiguration and Potions?  Don’t you hate potions?”

“It’s more accurate to say that I hated Snape’s teaching rather than the subject.  Besides if I decide on applying to join the aurors, I’ll need good NEWT marks in Defence, Charms, Transfiguration and Potions.”

He’d known since their fifth year that Neville wanted to join the aurors as his parents had done, probably thinking it would make them proud.  Having never actually met either of them, Harry couldn’t say one way or another if they’d care about what career their son would pick, but he would support Neville either way.  After all, it was just them now.

Refocusing on his own application Harry finished the rest of it and signed his name at the bottom with a flourish.  In the end he’d signed up to be examined on NEWT Transfiguration, NEWT Charms, NEWT Defence, NEWT Herbology, NEWT Magical Creatures and NEWT Potions.  When Neville looked over his shoulder to see what he had selected he let out a long whistle followed up by an amused chuckle.

“…and you questioned my choices?” 

“I didn’t question them; I was just curious why you picked them.  Besides what is wrong with my exam selections?” Harry asked shooting his giggling friend a mock glare. 

“Potions, Harry?  You’ve told me that you hate potions. Hell…you were practically famous for it thanks to your relationship with Snape and the Slytherins.”

“It was more about hating the teacher than the subject.”  Harry rebutted, reiterating Neville’s earlier point with a cheeky grin.  “Besides if the war hadn’t happened I would’ve picked most of those anyway, as I had been thinking about being an auror with Ron.”

Neville nodded in understanding.  “Do you still wanna be an auror?”

“You know that I don’t, Nev.”  Harry replied.  While at first the idea of being an auror was exciting but now he had lived the kind of life aurors dealt with all the time, hunting dark wizards and witches, it was the last kind of job he wanted.  The war changed a lot of things in his life and his potential future career was hardly the most depressing one of them.

“Yeah…but you could’ve changed your mind.”  Neville sheepishly defended as both of them handed their application forms in.  The second that both pieces of parchment were placed directly on the desk in front of the receptionist’s chair, the first door swung open to reveal the receptionist.  Silently she retook her seat and read through both applications.  After reviewing their applications the witch offered a half-hearted smile and gestured over to the chairs behind them.

“Please take a seat Lord Ravenclaw and Lord Gryffindor; someone will be out momentarily to start your examinations.”

Following the witch’s orders, Harry and Neville turned around and claimed the two nearest seats. 

“So you’re not completely sure what you want to do with your new life, Nev?” 

“Probably something in Herbology, maybe I’ll even take over as Herbology Professor at Hogwarts or create a new breed of Venomous Tantacula...”  Neville pondered as he folded his strong arms across his chest.  “…but then again I don’t mind the sound of the auror path…at least for a while.”

Harry hummed politely in reply having a feeling it would be something like that.  Herbology had always been a passion for Neville from the moment he started at Hogwarts, and while he may be great at Defence now, he hoped his friend would choose happiness over fighting.  Neville deserved it after everything the war had done to him.  More fighting to appease his parents, that may not even be alive in this world, was no way to move on.

Twenty minutes past as the pair fell into a comfortable silence, happy enough to sit in the quiet office space with only each other for company.  After a further ten minutes a witch and wizard walked out of the first room.  The man was portly and short with long greasy grey hair while his co-worker was slightly taller, had dull grey eyes but an excitable youthful face.

“Lord Gryffindor?”  She squeaked pushing her thin fingers through her pixie haircut.

With a quiet goodbye to Harry, Neville got up and followed her back through the first door and out of sight. 

“That must leave you as, Lord Ravenclaw?”  The male examiner said producing a scroll of parchment and a shiny quill from his long emerald robes.

“Yes, that’s me.”  Harry confirmed offering a friendly smile. 

“My name is Examiner Montague, if you’ll please follow me Lord Ravenclaw and we shall start with your practical examinations.” 

Harry frowned hearing the examiners name, knowing he had heard that last name before but for the life of him he couldn’t place it.  As Montague had already started towards the door, Harry jogged over just as he rested a podgy hand on the door.

“You should know, Lord Ravenclaw, that from this moment onwards you are officially being examined and any cheating will result in your immediate failure.”  Montague warned staring over his shoulder at Harry.

“Err…right…I understand, Examiner Montague.”

Despite his awkward reply, Montague must have heard something he liked as he gave a shallow nod and pushed open the door.  Following the older wizard inside, Harry was stunned seeing the blank stone room; he wasn’t sure what he had been expecting but seeing nothing was certainly unexpected. 

‘At least the high ceilings are nice.’  Harry thought weakly to himself as he stared around the bare chamber.

“Welcome to the Atrium, Lord Ravenclaw.”  Montague declared dramatically throwing his hands up in the air.  “It is here where we conduct the examinations as we have full control over the room in case of any wayward spells.  We are also able to summon items and even creatures as needed to help complete our examinations.  Now your practical exams will take twenty minutes per subject you’ve nominated.  Each exam will be marked in a similar fashion to your OWLs, except that if you achieve an Outstanding in a subject area, you will qualify for Mastery.  If you don’t have any questions we shall start post-haste.”

With nothing to ask, Harry gestured for him to start and withdrew his wand from his robe pocket.

“Excellent.  Lord Ravenclaw, we shall start with Charms.  Points will be awarded based on the success of the charm, if it is cast wordlessly and if possible wandlessly.”  Montague explained running an eye over his clipboard.

Thanks to the training he received during the war he was comfortable casting his magic wordlessly but, it was rare for wizards and witches to cast spells wandlessly past year two standard.  Either they didn’t have the skill or power level but Harry reckoned it had more to do with the fact that they preferred their wands and simply didn’t practice.

“A-Alright.”  Harry replied starting to feel nervous.

“Please start with an unlocking charm.”  Montague requested as a large wooden chest appeared in front of Harry clearly locked. 

Knowing that he could cast this, he lifted his hand and wandlessly cast the Alohomora charm silently.  Instantly the chest sprung open from the force of his spell before melting into the floor as though it had never been there.  The examination continued steadily getting harder and harder as they worked their way through the charms taught at Hogwarts before getting to the seventh year spells.

“Only two more compulsory charms left Lord Ravenclaw, and I must say that so far you’ve complete the charms examination in record time.”  The examiner crowed happily.  Harry had noticed that as the exam progressed that Montague had become more elated by his performance as though he was watching a Weird Sisters concert or Quidditch match, instead of marking a NEWT exam.

“Err…thanks.”

“You’re welcome Lord Ravenclaw.  Now, we shall test your undetectable extension charms.”  He explained as a leather knapsack appeared in the centre of the room and a massive wooden trunk with three locks.

Harry swore in his head at the request, knowing that it wouldn’t be easy.  As he went over and closely inspected both items, he knew that Montague had to have been making it harder on purpose.  The leather knapsack was comprised of dragon hide that famously resisted magic and with three sections magically supressed within the wooden trunk, it would make the spell more complicated.  The only upside was that because of the war, and being temporarily separated from his wand, he had gotten pretty good at this spell.

Starting with the knapsack, Harry placed his left hand on its cool exterior and cast the spell wandless. 

 _“Capacious extremis.”_   Harry said flicking his hand in a complicated manner. 

He had just felt the spell take effect when the room’s magic tore the bag from his grasp and had it hovering to the right of the examiner.  Harry turned to the chest next, feeling very drained; the extension charms were notoriously draining spells and with the other spells he’s cast for the exam, he really wanted to go back to the Leaky Cauldron and pass out for a while.  Not wanting to waste any more time, Harry turned to the chest.

The chest was rather similar to the one Moody used to have in his fourth year and Harry had no idea how to extend the chest with complex spells already in place.  If he used the wrong spell or pushed too much magic at it, the magic already woven in the chest could explode or simply not work; neither of which would be a great result in an exam.

Deciding to throw caution into the wind, Harry placed his left hand on the chest’s lid and his other over the locks. 

“ _Capacious extremis maxima!”_ Harry bellowed pushing his spell into the chest.

Just as before, the moment the spell was complete the chest flew over to Montague for inspection.  Harry sat on the floor watching the chubby wizard examine his work and tried catching his breath.  Even though he’d barely moved during the examination, it felt like he had just flew two games of Quidditch.

“Oh bravo, Lord Ravenclaw!  Truly excellent charm work.  Now there is one last charm before you are finished.”  Montague declared having finally finishing his inspection of the chest and bag that had already faded away from sight.

With a groan Harry stood up and prepared for the last one.  “What charm do I have to do now?”

Unconcerned with Harry’s attitude, Montague just chuckled.  “Don’t fear Lord Ravenclaw, it is nearly over and the last task is as simple as you wish to make it.  You need to perform a protective charm.”

Harry cocked an eyebrow at the last question.  Protective charms were a rather broad field, with some being taught in second year for weak duelling and others in seventh year with enough power to supposedly stop a bullet.  In general Harry thought the task was stupid, especially considering he already performed four different shields for the exam. 

Wanting to get it over with, Harry put his wand in his robe pocket and started.

 _“Repello Inimicum, Protego Maxima, Fianto Duri!”_ Harry said with his arms over his head and his palms facing the ceiling.  Instantly a white light erupted from his hands and formed a dome over him before fading away. 

With a gigantic smile Montague stepped forward with his wand out.  Harry watched as the man started firing different spells at the shield in rapid succession that only appeared visibly when struck.  Finally he ceased his attack and called the exam over. 

Hearing Montague say he was done with the charms examination, Harry sighed in relief knowing that he could now rest.  Not sure he had enough strength left, physical or magical, to remove the shield, Harry took out his wand and with one dismissive sweep was practically out the door.

Once he was out of the Atrium, Harry dramatically collapsed into one of the waiting chairs.  It wasn’t long before he was joined by an equally exhausted Neville.  As his ‘cousin’ took the seat next to him, Harry wanted to ask how his exam went but was way too tired to bother opening his mouth.

After what felt like two minutes later the two examiners were back, looking equally excited especially compared to their exhausted examinees.  Montague was practically bouncing up and down in front of him whilst Harry was trying his best not to wandlessly hex him.

“We are ready for the NEWT Transfiguration examination.  As you have both requested on your forms that you want to do the accelerated examination timetable, you must drink both these potions before we can safely continue.”  The women said holding two vials out to Neville, as Montague mimicked her actions handing him another two.

Harry took the two potions from the examiner, gave them a suspicious look before uncorking and sniffing them.  One lesson he would never forget after Snape and Moody got together for a ‘teaching session’ with the Order, was that never just accept a potion with knowing what it was.  Thankfully they were easily identifiable, thanks to his many visits to Madam Pomfrey in the Hospital Wing.

“They are only a modified Wiggenweld and Pepperup Potions.”  Harry whispered to a dubious looking Neville. 

“You sure?”  He asked clearly remembering the same lesson he had were Snape had poisoned them and expected them to find the antidote while struggling for air.

With only a nod of assurance to Neville, both simultaneously drunk their potions.  Once he had gotten over the horrid taste of the potion, Harry felt his exhaustion and wariness disappear instantly and felt a powerful wave of energy fill him.

“Ready?”  Montague asked with a knowing smile. 

Harry walked back in to the Atrium to see that the previously empty space and been filled with a variety of items from shoe boxes to caged lizards, it made the room look more like a second-hand store than anything else. 

“First, Lord Ravenclaw, I must remind you that you are now under examination proceedings and any form of cheating will not be tolerated.” 

Harry nodded his understanding as he watched two rats squaring off in a cage perched behind Montague’s head. 

“The NEWT Transfiguration examination is designed to test your range ability.  So can you first please summon a hedgehog and proceed to transfigure it into a pincushion.”

The exam continued along a familiar path as Harry was asked to perform many spells that he’d been taught by McGonagall.  Unfortunately for his mark by the time they reached the fifth year transfiguration spells, he had to use his wand as he knew he wouldn’t succeed wandlessly for the more advanced magic.

The advanced transfiguration wasn’t too bad at first, with only asking simple things from him at first like the vanishing spell, the sticking charm and transfiguring basic items into animals like rabbits and ducks.  Unfortunately, such spells weren’t to last long. 

“Now are you a registered animagus, Lord Ravenclaw?”  Montague asked as he continued taking notes on his piece of parchment, completely ignoring the person he was talking to.

Harry froze.  He completely forgot that it was illegal to be a unregistered animagus and since arriving in this world they hadn’t even looked into it.  Seeing the curious expression from Montague’s puggy face Harry quickly opted for a lie.

“I am an animagus Examiner Montague but I am currently unregistered.”  Harry admitted but quickly pressed on as Montague’s mouth dropped.  “Both myself and my cousin heard that we can get extra points for being animagus’ and have been practicing the art.  We only achieved it last night and had no time to register before our scheduled exams.”

As Montague contemplated his excuse Harry carefully calmed his face from giving him away.  Thankfully, Montague wasn’t as clever as he was round.

“I understand, but I must urge you to register yourselves as soon as possible.  The consequences for being caught an unregistered animagus are very grave these days.”

Hearing the dark tone Montague made Harry frown.  He knew from Sirius’ that if someone was caught back in their world the worst punishment they could get would be a fine of a thousand galleons; something told him that the law was a bit stricter here.

“I swear I will.”

Montague nodded.  “In that case we shall proceed.  Please transform into your animagus form.”

After putting his wand in his pocket, Harry began the transformation.   Each time he used his animagus form felt connected with his father and Sirius, especially as he achieved his form by using their notes from their own attempts.  Harry felt his bones begin to shrink into themselves before rearranging.  His felt skin become soft feathers and his nose started shrink on his face before turning sharp.

Within thirty seconds Harry went from being a short wizard to a small black raven.  Harry watched the examiner from his place on the floor with increased interest; gone was the academic and in his place was a stunned mullet. 

After holding his form for a few minutes and not receiving any instructions from Montague, Harry quickly turned back to his former self. 

“Err…Mr Montague?  Are you okay?”

Seeing him transform back must have snapped him out of his shock and he eagerly took a few steps forward. 

“How did you do that?”

Harry frowned thinking back to his transformation.  It was a fairly basic transformation and it was asked of him, so he had no idea what Montague was talking about.

“Is this a trick part of the exam?  I just transformed into my animagus form like you asked.”

“Of course not, Lord Ravenclaw, and yes you did the animagus flawlessly…”  Montague agreed as his grey eyes held a spark of excitement within their depths.  “…but it is how you did it that has caught my attention.”

Not likely how Montague was exhibiting many of the same attributes as one of his fans as ‘savior of the wizarding world’, Harry crossed his arms.

“I’m not sure what you’re talking about, Mr Montague.  As far as I know I did it the same way everyone else does.”

“No not at all milord.  It is rare for someone to have the skill and magical power to become an animagus, combined with the danger in trying and there aren’t many around.  The fact you completed your transformation without the use of a wand is remarkable.”

“I’m not sure what you mean, I used the notes that my father and godfather used when they became animagus’.  And I’ve seen people do the transformation wandlessly before.”  Harry rebutted thinking back to watching McGonagall transform in his first year, and as Sirius escaped from Azkaban using his animagus form he strongly doubted he had a wand conveniently at hand.

“Really?”  Montague asked before he started pacing back and forth in front of an annoyed Harry.  He was just about to snap something at Montague when the examiner spun around with the same crazy interest in his eyes.  “Do you happen to still have the notes milord?  It would be extremely useful to the advancement of magic if we could give them to the scholars in the Department of Mysteries.”

“I’ll think about it, but if you don’t mind we are still in the middle of my exam.”  Harry snapped having grown sick of the now fawning examiner. 

“My apologies, Lord Ravenclaw.  We can of course discuss this at another time.”  He answered with a small bow.  “As for your examination, there is only one last spell to perform and you are complete.”

“Great.”

“Please perform the animation spell on the statue.”

Seeing where Montague was looking, which thankfully was not directly at him, Harry turned around to see a stunning stone statue of a Common Welsh Green dragon.  Desperate to get out and away from Montague, Harry lifted his wand and concentrated on the advanced spellwork.

“ _Piertotum Locomotor!”_   He bellowed as he finished his wand movement and directed his magic at the statue. 

Slowly the dragon started to shift stiffly.  Harry watched as the dragon’s movements became more fluid, then proceeded to wretch his feet from the stone platform he was on before giving a derisive roar. 

Montague clapped loudly and just as he declared the exam over, Harry was already heading out and away from his examiner. 

The process continued in a loop with Harry and Neville completing their practical exams over and over.  Although Harry thought that the Care of Magical Creatures NEWT was his favourite so far; first they had to treat an injured griffin’s wing, then befriend a territorial horned serpent and safely extract some of its saliva and finally they were tasked with successfully selecting the perfect food for a pregnant Ukrainian Ironbelly before feeding her.

The Herbology exam was the least exciting, as they had to repot a few dangerous plants like the fanged geranium, safely extract snargaluff pods and then acquire bubotuber pus; Harry narrowly avoided getting hit in the eye, thanks to his quick seeker reflexes, by the bubotuber he was working on simply because he accidently squeezed the plant to hard. 

Finally it was time for the potions examination.  Harry was led into the examination room to see a large desk filled with a variety of potion ingredients and in the dead centre was a pewter cauldron and a handful of equipment.  Safely assuming he would be expected to be making a potion for his practical, Harry took the position in front of the cauldron and waited for instructions.

“Lord Ravenclaw, you are expected today to make two of the follow potions for examination.  During this time you are expected to brew the potions expertly without the use of notes or recipe.  Your options are the Draught of Living Death, the Elixir to induce Euphoria, the enhanced Wit-Sharpening Potion, Amortentia and finally Felix Felicis.”

“Can I ask what the most frequently made potions are for NEWT?”

“If I had to pick…probably Amortentia and the Wit-Sharpening potion.”  Montague admitted reluctantly through pursed lips obviously not pleased with anyone choosing such options. 

Harry could relate but he was certain it was for very different reasons.  He assumed Montague disliked them because they were arguably the easiest potions from the selection, but Harry didn’t like the idea of brewing them for other reasons.  The Wit-Sharpening Potion was annoyingly tedious as it required a lot of precise cutting and lots of stirring, whilst Amortentia could be difficult to brew and he had only made it once before.

“I’ll do the Draught of Living Death and Felix Felicis.”  Harry decided looking over at Montague.

“Indeed, Lord Ravenclaw.  Should have expected such a choice from you, should I?”  He said chuckling forcefully enough that his belly bounced around like jelly.  “When you are ready, you may begin.”

Deciding to do the Draught of Living Death first, Harry started selecting all the ingredients he would need and cleared some space for himself.  Letting his mind wander back to his sixth year, Harry started preparing the ingredients. 

First Harry slowly added twenty drops of essence of wormwood with one hand whilst he stirred anti-clockwise.  Once he was done and lowered the temperature on the cauldron, and started chopping up three valerian roots into small squared pieces.  After he was satisfied that the roots were cut up adequately he gently placed them into the prepared beaker filled with clear water on the side to settle.

Harry watched the chopped roots in the water, amusing himself with the thought of how things can change.  From his first lesson with Snape, Harry was certain that he would always be dreadful at potions.  Yet, now he was sitting his NEWT exam for it, and it was all thanks to the Half-Blood Price and some of the notes from his mother he’d managed to find in the Potter vaults.  

Feeling that the roots were ready, he removed them and placed them into the potion.  From the moment the last root hit the water, the potion became smooth like glass and turned a black-current color. 

Knowing that Montague was hovering nearby Harry continued to work by crushing the next ingredient, the sopophorous bean, with a silver dagger and slowly squeezing the juices into the potion.  After doing it thirteen times, the potion turned a light shade of lilac and signalled it was time for the complicated stirring.  He stood by his cauldron stirring counter clock-wise and clock-wise over twenty times in a seemingly random pattern, whilst carefully adding the last ingredients before standing back.

Looking down at his results Harry was proud of his work, and from the look on Montague’s face he was as well.  Once the potion had been bottled for evidence, Montague cleared the rest of the potion away with a swipe of his wand before signalling he could continue.

Without delay Harry started on the Felix Felicis potion.  While it wasn’t a potion that most Hogwarts’ aged students would regularly make, it was one that Ron, Hermione and himself had brewed a few times during the final stages of the war.  Certain plans while necessary, like breaking into Gringotts looking like Deatheaters, were nearly doomed to fail but with a drop of liquid luck they ended up scraping through most of them okay.

‘ _Perhaps if the potion wasn’t poisonous if taken continually, my friends would still be alive today.’_ Harry thought bitterly to himself, feeling his repressed emotions bubbling towards the surface.

Pushing the dark thoughts away so he could concentrate, Harry gathered his new ingredients and started.  As he dropped the Ashwinder egg into the cauldron and prepared to heat it, he realised that while he may have gotten some skill from his mother and tips from the Half-Blood Prince, it was living with the Dursley’s that got him used to cooking.  Potions need to be made with precise ingredients and after living with his muggle relatives, Harry knew how dangerous it could be screwing up; although the major difference was that potions tended to explode if done poorly, whilst his relatives would just hit him if he burnt their dinner.

It took him a few moments to realise he was practically working on auto pilot as he added the ground up Occamy eggshell, stirred slowly whilst adjusting the cauldron’s heat, before adding the powdered common rue and letting it sit for a minute.  Once the potion smoothed out and turned yellow, Harry lifted his wand.

“ _Felixempra.”_ Harry said waving his wand three times in a figure eight over his potion. 

The moment he finished his wand movement the potion turned a deep golden color and large drops of potion leapt randomly from the surface as though eager to get out.  Harry smiled as he wiped the small amount of sweat from his brow.  The potion looked exactly like his sixth year potion book described.

When he finished and headed out he saw a sad Neville sitting by himself with his head in his hands.  Ignoring the receptionist who tried to get his attention, Harry moved over to sit by his friend.  “What happened, Nev?”

Neville raised his head and gave Harry a sad smile.  “My potion exploded.”

For a minute Harry just stared at Neville as he processed what he said before chuckling loudly. “Really?”

“It’s not funny, Harry.”  Neville snapped frowning at Harry’s attempts to control his laughter.

When Harry was able to stop, only by biting on the side of his mouth, he took in the sight of his friend.  Neville had gone back to looking despondently at the floor as though waiting for the grey tiles to suddenly solve all his problems. “I’m sorry, Nev.  What actually happened?”

Neville looked up at Harry, as though checking for signs of an upcoming joke, before sighing and taking a deep breath.  “At first everything was great.  I finished the love potion and I reckon I did pretty well; it was the right color and had the mother of pearl sheen to it.  But when I started the Elixir to induce Euphoria, I got confused and couldn’t remember one of the ingredients and panicked.”

Seeing where this was going, Harry patted Neville’s back comfortingly.  Thankfully he didn’t need to push Neville to continue, his support seemed to be enough. 

“I added six drops of salamander blood….”

Harry froze.  Salamander blood was a rather volatile potion ingredient and because of that it was only used in certain potions, and the Elixir to Induce Euphoria was certainly not one of them.  He could remember Seamus making a similar mistake in their potions class.

“…apparently the blood reacted badly with the wormwood and porcupine quills.  Before I knew what was happening the potion exploded and drenched my examiner.”

“Is she okay?”  He asked looking around as though expecting her to suddenly run in and starting singing or dancing around.

Neville nodded weakly in reply.  “I was told by the healer that came in that she was only unconscious and should wake up in a few hours.”

“That she will, Lord Gryffindor.  You shouldn’t be too upset about these kind of things.”  Montague called out, startling both of them as he waddled out from the Atrium. 

“She could’ve been gravely hurt.”  Neville bit back.

Montague just waved his concern and anger away with limp hand and a smile.  “From a Euphoria potion?  Hardly!  Besides we know the risks when we do these examinations.  We are getting people to perform dangerous and complex magic in front of us and pushing their skills; it only makes sense to expect a few to make silly mistakes.”

Sensing Neville start tensing beside him, Harry quickly interjected to stop his friend from attacking.  “What will happen now?”

“Nothing, Lord Ravenclaw.”  Montague answered looking away from Neville.  “As you’ve requested to do the examinations together, your last practical will occur tomorrow morning at ten o’clock when there is a second examiner here.  Afterwards we shall proceed and test your theory.”

“Great!”  Harry said standing up and dragging Neville with him.  “In that case we shall see you tomorrow.”

Before the annoying examiner could continue Harry and Neville left the department for a while deserved break, leaving Montague to return to his office.

 

//Ernest Montague\\\

 

Once he was sure that the two young lords had left his department, Ernest walked as fast as he could to his office without drawing suspicion to himself.  He had been an examiner in the Department of Magical Education for well over twenty years, and in that time he’d never seen such control and power in a student as he had in Gryffindor and Ravenclaw; from their practicals alone he knew that they were very powerful and skilled wizards

Once he got to his cramped office, he raced to his fireplace on the far wall.  Without wasting a breath he quickly spelled his office for extreme privacy and removed a handful of Floo powder from the jar on the floor.

Immediately after calling out the address and throwing the Floo powder into the fireplace, a head appeared to answer his call.  The floating head was of a man with wavy brown hair, bright blue eyes and a sneer that could curdle milk. 

“Yes?”  He drawled looking rather bored as he stared down Montague.

Montague fell to his knees and bowed his head in respect.  “Milord.  I have news to report.”

“Is this like the time you bothered me to report that Corvinus Thorp was an expert duellist?  However when I tested him he was defeated by the knockback jinx…a first year spell.  Or perhaps this is like the time you woke me at five in the morning to inform me that Isolt McNair was a seer?  However, it turned out that she was just a good liar with basic Legilimency.”  The man sneered down as his eyes flared in irritation causing Montague to cringe. 

“This is different milord.”  Ernest said from his place on the fireplace’s hearth.  “Two young wizards have just completed their practical NEWTS in Transfiguration, Charms, Herbology, Care of Magical Creatures and Potions.”

“And…”  The man sneered.  “I would believe you should be used to that, don’t you perform those kind of examinations every day?”

“Yes milord, but they scored very high and I was instructed to inform you of any highly skilled wizards and witches.”  Montague swiftly replied hoping not to infuriate his master.

“You know this from their examinations only?  Impossible.  You are missing a lot of information and that is exactly what you should have before you bother me.  Now if they do well in their other examinations we can speak then.  Do you have anything else to report?”

At first Ernest was disappointed he couldn’t appease his master, but he wasn’t done.  “Yes milord.  You asked me to report anyone coming in baring one of the ancient bloodlines?”

“Go on.”  The head said raising an eyebrow obviously more interested in Montague’s story.

When Ernest had first been encouraged to take a place in the Department of Magical Education, he had been given a list of thirty-five names.  And for the first time in over twenty years, he could report something definitely worthwhile.

“The two I was referring to that have done well in their practical examinations are on the list milord.  Lord Ralston Ravenclaw and Lord Danforth Gryffindor.”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please leave a comment and kudos with this update and let me know what you think :)


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